On Thu, 2003-10-02 at 13:00, Ross Werner wrote: > > To me, most Free Software begins by scratching an itch. I need some > software to do something, or Company A needs some software to do > something, and so I program Package Q (or A pays me to program Package Q). > For whatever reason (say Microsoft already has a monopoly in this area) Q > is unmarketable; it would be basically impossible to make money by selling > it. So I distribute it under a Free, Open Source license.
I bet this does happen, but generally, I think businesses feel that this software they have written give them a competative advantage, and therefore they don't share it. Also, what if that itch happens to be that you really want to do some sort of formal verification of the digital ASIC you are designing. What, you wouldn't write that kind of software yourself? I didn't think so. So go buy it. It'll cost less than training your own engineers in formal verification algorithms, and then paying them for the time it takes to write the software. Besides, it turns out the work is already done. If you want to go out and buy it, it's often ready for you instantly. Pay the money, download the software, install the license server, and go. I think the scenarios with the cures to cancer could definately apply in this sort of situation, but it's going to be hard to break away from the way we do things currently. > > /However/, I do think that there _is_ a place for direct monetary support > in a lot of instances. For example, it's always seemed amazing to me that > places such as sourceforge, freshmeat, rpmfind, etc. all exist. I can't > figure out any real way for sites such as sourceforge to actually make > money. They have banner adds like any other site. I don't know if that pays all the bills, I can't imagine it does. Then again, they do have a lot of mirrors helping out, so maybe they don't have too much bandwidth to pay for. Bryan > But imagine how much such a simple site has contributed to the Open > Source and Free Software movements. Those are the kinds of places I think > really deserve our money for the services they provide. > > ~ Ross ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
